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Trying to understand an english phrase


Anders Madsen

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Being norwegian, I know the word "score" from soccer og handball. It is putting the ball in the net.
I am confused about the english/american use of that same word. There are "musical score" and junkies "score" in the street.
What is meant by a musical/music score?

Edited by Moxica
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It's quite common in the UK (depending on which part you live) for someone to ask "What's the score with ...?" or "What's the script with ....?", which both mean the same.

When used as a noun, substituting score for script makes more sense,  here "Musical Score" = "Musical Script" 

For junkies, they're using it as a verb, the definition of which is:

"gain (a point, goal, run, etc.) in a competitive game."

So a junkie "scored" on the street meaning you overcame the challenge of searching for your fix and "won".

[Edit] - there's also another place the junkie meaning could come from. A "score" as a collective noun can also mean twenty of something. Given that (or so I'm told) £20 is a common price for an amount of drugs, this could also explain the usage here.

Edited by msmcleod
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So I'm an American and not sure how you in the UK use the word "Script".   Here "script" would be just words and not music.

A musical score is simply a piece music with all the instruments available to see.  A conductor looks at a score, the oboe player looks at the oboe part.

A "score" in music terms can also refer to the total music provided for a picture.   "I scored that TV show"  or "Hans Zimmer has the best score for a movie this year".  

"I was hired to score that documentary"  means I'm going to compose music to be used throughout the project.  I think it has become shortened from "underscore"  in which the music is meant to be under the dialogue.

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4 hours ago, msmcleod said:

 

[Edit] - there's also another place the junkie meaning could come from. A "score" as a collective noun can also mean twenty of something. Given that (or so I'm told) £20 is a common price for an amount of drugs, this could also explain the usage here.

Great post, particularly on the use of score as a synonym of the number 20. I doubt, however that the usage has anything to do with the price of drugs. The bible refers to a human's God-given life span as "three score and ten" years.

And in 1865, US President Abraham Lincoln famously (to Americans at least) started his Gettysburg address with the words, "Four score and seven years ago...". 

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English is a weird language because it has words borrowed from just about every other neighboring language. It also has more words by far than any other spoken language on the planet. I'm sure that makes it difficult.

But every language has it's problems. As Spanish speaking people started moving here, I'm making an effort to learn Spanish. Nouns with 2 genders aren't bad because if I call something wrong, most people still know what I'm saying. It's the verbs. In English we have 3 conjugations, past, present and future tense. In Spanish there are plenty more, most of which I can't wrap my middle-aged brain around: Present, Imperfect, Preterite, Future, Conditional, Present Perfect, Pluperfect, Preterit Perfect, Future Perfect, Conditional Perfect, Present Subjunctive, Imperfect Subjunctive, Present Perfect Subjunctive, and Pluperfect Subjunctive.

That's more tenses than we have definitions for the word score ;)

OK, not quite, here is all the meanings of score:

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/score

There are more than a score of meanings for score. Whew!

Insights, incites, and a lame attempt at humor by Notes

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Huh. I just looked up "score" in my dictionary (I have several; remember them? 😉) and the term "score" for a musical composition is, ironically, from Old Norse, "skor".

Edit: Added smiley so I won't seem too smart-alecky. 
Also, can some of you English folk let me know if it is, indeed, ironic?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by 57Gregy
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22 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

English is a weird language because it has words borrowed from just about every other neighboring language. It also has more words by far than any other spoken language on the planet. I'm sure that makes it difficult.

It's the verbs. In English we have 3 conjugations, past, present and future tense.

Er! Just three?

How about the present perfect: I have been ... ;

The past perfect: I had been ... ;

The present continuous: I am going ... ;

Future continuous: I will be going ... ;

I have been doing ... ; I had been going ... ; etc, etc.

To name but a few.

Many more than three in English; at least nine I think.

Not so sure about American tho'.  😉

(See English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy.)

Edited by JohnG
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There's a version of the work score that has reference with ...... uh.........   certain  good fortunes with the opposite *****.... Say no more - nudge nudge..

 

 

Wow  I guess I should have spelled that sects..... score 1 for artificial intelligence.

Edited by RBH
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